[5] After the German invasion and occupation of Kharkov, in order to escape hunger in the city, Eugenio's family moved West into rural areas.
When the tide of war turned decisively against the Germans, the Bulygin household, unwilling to remain under Stalin's rule (a brother of Eugenio's grandmother was arrested during the Great Terror, perishing in the camps), attempted to flee to Paris, but was stopped by the Germans and sent to Austria, where the family remained in a labour camp until the end of the war.
[5] By 1949, however, worried about the proximity of Soviet forces during the Allied occupation of Austria, the Bulygin family decided to move yet again, this time to Argentina.
[5][3] On his arrival to Argentina, Bulygin started learning Spanish by attending chess clubs, a game which he played at a good level during his youth, and which didn't require as much communicative effort as other means of socialising.
[5] Not long after returning from Germany, Bulygin moved to the United Kingdom on yet another fellowship, this time from the British Council, to work under the supervision of H. L. A. Hart at Oxford University.
[9] In addition to his native Russian and his "adopted" first language, Spanish, Bulygin was fluent in German, English and Italian, and had working knowledge of French.